Lhen

My fiance and I are getting married in August and we've pick Italy as our honeymoon spot and determined to explore 5 amazing cities (Amalfi Coast, Taormina Sicily, Venice, Tuscany and Rome). We've heard August is the time of the month, some places shut down, some say it's not true (only factories, car shops, etc) because of the fact the school is out and Europeans goes on vacations in the month of August. I also heard it is HOT but not humid (which we are OK with it). We are just wondering where would you recommend for us to go, good places for age of 25-30 honeymooners, in this 5cities we like to visit? We love beaches, nightlife and other exciting sight musuems. Every year we go to Carribean places and this year we've decided to go to Europe, it is something diffrent. Anyting that's not as expensive but something reasonable and affortable spots... We are also planing of taking the eurotrail but just wondering about the distance, how far from each cities? We are flying from the US to Europe but not sure where to go first and where we should end our last day.

ira

Hi L,

How many weeks do you have?

nytraveler

In August all of those places will be both hot - or very hot - and humid. The will also be incredibly packed with europeans on vacation (many large businesses close all their factories for the month - as well as all those office workers, teachers and students).

In most places prices will be high - but since you don;t give a specific price range it's hard to tell what you're expecting. Also, since you don;t say how long you have it's hard to give advice (the trip you described probably needs 4 weeks - would be very rushed in 3, given the time to get to/fro Sicily.)

If you tell us how much time you have and what your hotel budget is people can make recommendations.

But keep in mind that the Carib in summer is WAY WAY cheaper than Europe.

For info on train travel go to bahn.de - which has the best info on train schedules (although not prices for Italy - for which you need to go to trenitalia.com).

RufusTFirefly

In some areas, August is a shoulder or even a low season for many hotels--like Venice. Europeans tend to flock to the beaches and mountains. So the Amalfi Coast will be busy.

If you know that those 5 places are where you definitely want to go (and they are all nice destinations), 3 weeks on the ground would be fine.
3-5 days in each would work; but only you and your spouse-to-be know if you want to cover that much ground on your honeymoon.

None of the sights will be closed, and you won't have any trouble finding restaurants, clubs, stores, etc. to meet your needs in August.

Lhen

2weeks Thank you! Oops totally forgot to mention the most important details. We're only planning to spend 2 1/2 weeks in Italy (3 nights on each cities). We are planning of taking the train to go to the next city. We've searched and saw couple of hotels and prices sounds reasonable for us. In Venice we saw hotels ranging around €350 - €450, Amalfi Coast €400 - €500, in Tuscany €200 - €350, Rome € 200 - €300 and in Taormina €200 - €350. However, we are jst havng difficulites understanding or knowing which hotel(s) to pick (too many choices). We want to have our hotel around in good areas to go around to. Will it be around good beaches, sightseeing, nightlife, restaurants, etc? Is it close to the train station? How far of a distance this each cities are from one another? Couple of musuem names and places were mentioned but since this is our first time in Europe we just have no idea and hard to make a choice. We don't need beaches in every cities. At least maybe in Amalfi coast and sicily we are looking forward to go too.

For example this hotel in Venice - is this hotel in good location? Is it close to the train station?
http://www.booking.com/hotel/it/camp...out=2009-08-19

We really apprciate everyone's response.

RufusTFirefly

Close to the train station is not the best location in Venice. And the hotel you cite is not close to the train station, so it would be fine with me in terms of location. The hotel has pretty good reviews.

There is a water bus stop right outside the train station, and there is a water bus stop (S. Zaccaria) not far from your hotel. The hotel website has directions--a number 51 waterbus would be the quickest, while a number 1 would give you a 45 minute introductory ride along the Grand Canal.

Mimar

For hotel reviews, look at www.tripadvisor.com. It's the best such site.

But before you reserve hotels, you need to get more information about transportation. First of all, you have relatively few days for 5 stops, so fly open jaws, into one city, out of another. For instance you could fly into Venice and out of Naples.

Also, given the relatively short time you have, maybe fly to Taormina (actually Catania). There are lots of flights, cheap and otherwise. Look at www.harefares.com.

The Amalfi Coast is not close to the train. You either train into Naples and take the Circumvesuviana commuter train to Sorrento, then a bus on to the Amalfi Coast proper. Or train into Salerno and take a bus or a boat north to the AC.

And what do you mean by Tuscany? The best way to see Tuscany is several days with a car, leisurely driving and checking out small hilltowns. Most of these towns are not on the train line.

bobthenavigator

That is doable if you drop Taormina, but I sure would try to postpone it a month.

jetsetj

I agree with BOB..Personally I would rather stay home than go to Italy in August. I HATE heat and humidity. Some people dont have problems like I do.

Regardless of when you go..With only 2 weeks, skip Sicily.

I would pick Rome, Venice and either Amalfi or Tuscany.
It isnt fun constantly packing up and catching a train.

Hotels near train stations arent always the best.
stay central to the sights.

Best of luck and congrats...